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High Five Recipes: 111 Recipes That Use 5 or Fewer Ingredients!

March 26, 2018 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Get ready to be amazed! High Five Recipes is going to make your real food kitchen life so much simpler!

Introducing our fabulous new real food eCookbook full of 111 time, money, and energy saving recipes…

Yum

Feeding your family doesn’t have to be hard!

Or expensive. Or time consuming. Or expensive. Oh wait. I already said that. I guess I felt it was worth a repeat, as none of the recipes in this eBook call for expensive ingredients.

Get ready to simplify your kitchen life, put easy meals on the table, fill your family with tasty snacks – all while staying true to your desire to feed your family wholesome, real food!

We know what “family friendly” means. We know what “easy” is. We definitely like nourishment. And the fact that every recipe turns out delicious and fun is basically icing on the cake. (Wait, a five ingredient cake? Can it be true? I guess you’ll have to get the book and see!)

This High Five Recipes eBook includes 111 wonderful recipes all of which:

  • Call for 5 or fewer ingredients
  • Are all made from real food ingredients
  • Taste incredible
  • Take very little time and effort to make

You probably already have all or most of the needed ingredients in your kitchen. Don’t you love it when food becomes un-complicated!?

What will you do with all your extra time??

High Five Recipes offers:

  • 14 Bread and Breakfast recipes
  • 35 Main Dish recipes
  • 13 Side Dish recipes
  • 29 Dessert and Snack recipes
  • 16 Drink recipes
  • 4 Extra recipes

Get it here!

Our Heavenly Homemaker’s Club Members have access to this amazing resource plus ALL of our eBooks, eCurriculum, printables, and so much more – for one very low price! Join us here!

Or purchase separately below:

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10.000

Everyone bring it in. High fives all around…

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip (3 ingredients!)

March 25, 2018 by Laura 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You’ll love this Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip. But first, wait until you see what we’ve got in the works!

high five cover

It’s a brand new eBook and we’re going to roll it out very soon! It includes a whopping 111 recipes – all of which only utilize 5 or fewer ingredients. This has been one of our most exciting projects! Sharing ways to put simple food on your table is one of our favorite goals, and if the recipe has only 5 ingredients, you can bet it is simpler than ever!

Be on the look out for brand new High Five Recipes I’ll be sharing during the next few weeks, as well as the reveal of our brand new eBook in just a few hours! As for today, you’ll need three simple ingredients and a bag of chips. What used to be a snack can now become a meal!


A few weeks ago when I posted my Cream Cheese Salsa Dip recipe, Kayla left a comment to share that she used the same idea to make Bean Dip. Say no more, Kayla. We got out our cream cheese, salsa, and a can of refried beans and we suddenly had a new favorite!

Do you see how easy real food cooking can be? I had a teen at my house last week devouring my food saying, “I guess I never knew healthy food actually tasted good.” Boom. That is my goal. Healthy food that tastes good. And if it can also be simple to make, then my entire food mission has been accomplished.

If you have time, soak and cook pinto beans for this recipe. But for all who are in a hurry, simply get out a jar of salsa, a package of cream cheese, and a can of beans. Blend it together and your main dish is ready. Eat it hot. Eat it cold. And of course, eat it with fruits and vegetables on the side because this is the 11th commandment. “Thou shalt eat fruits and veggies with every meal.” Amen.

Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip

Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip (3 ingredients!)
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 5 cups
Ingredients
  • 16-ounces salsa (any variety)
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 15-ounce can refried beans or pinto beans
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Serve hot or cold with corn tortilla chips.
3.4.3177

**UPDATE**

It’s here! Learn all about our High Five Recipes eBook and grab yours here!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=32]

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Easiest Meal to Make for Easter

March 22, 2018 by Laura 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

As with any holiday, I like to actually enjoy myself and my guests instead of spending hours in the kitchen. Thus, today I will share the easiest meal to make for Easter.

The Easiest Meal to Make for Easter

It has become our tradition to invite a houseful of college students over to enjoy our Easter dinner with us. It is worth noting that young adults are most certainly not too old to enjoy plastic eggs filled with bunny-shaped sugar. We fill eggs with candy, then half of our guests hide the eggs all over our yard, hoping to challenge their fellow college students to climb into precarious places to find said eggs. We dig out plastic grocery sacks for everyone to use as Easter baskets because at our house, we like to be fancy.

easter 20168

The meal I serve? Well, college kids love any form of home-cooking, thus they tend to not care what I make, as long as I’ve made it.

It is a good thing that simple food just so happens to also be delicious. Love makes food taste better. Praying over my guests while I’m preparing the food has become my favorite hospitality practice. This takes away all the stress over the meal as I know God is the One who makes the food and the fellowship sweet and memorable.

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I’ve found that the easiest meal to make for Easter includes ham, potato casserole, veggies, rolls, and a simple dessert. Nothing fancy necessary, except for the above mentioned plastic grocery bags we use as Easter Baskets. Those always wow our guests.

The Easiest Meal to Make for Easter

ham

1. I buy a Spiral Sliced Ham.

These taste incredible and are super simple to make. I plop it in a pan, throw away the packet of glaze, cover the ham, and bake it while we are at church. Just before serving we cut it off the bone and put it on our buffet. It is a hit every time and it takes no work to prepare. Spiral sliced ham for the win!

Bacon Hashbrown Casserole

2. I make a Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole ahead of time.

Then I slide it into the oven along with the ham to bake while we are at church. This is multi-tasking at its finest.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

3. I quickly make some veggies and/or a salad.

Steamed green beans, Honey Glazed Carrots, a tray of raw veggies – none of these takes much time or effort to prepare. If I have time, I might put together a “fancy” salad like this Strawberry Spinach Salad.

rolls1sm

4. I buy rolls.

I never thought I’d see the day, but I’ve learned that relationships and hospitality can look like homemade rolls AND store-bought rolls. For this season in my life, I have decided to buy rolls, plop them in a basket, and go love on the people. Maybe eventually I’ll get back to making homemade rolls, seeing as they are hard to beat!

Build-a-Brownie

5. Dessert isn’t fancy.

Sometimes I skip making dessert altogether and simply sprinkle Easter candy across the middles of the tables. If I have time to do more, I bake brownies, buy ice cream, and set up a Brownie Sundae Bar.

easter 20163

This Easter meal is simple but fabulous, our tables are filled with people we love, and I guess it goes without saying that hiding/hunting Easter eggs with college students who are walking around holding fancy grocery bags provides enough fun to last us all year round.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Best Places to Shop for Real Food Groceries

March 20, 2018 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Want to feed your family healthy food but feel stumped as to where to shop for real food groceries? Hopefully this post will take away uncertainties and ease your mind!

The Best Places to Shop for Real Food Groceries

The Best Places to Shop for Real Food Groceries

I have good news for you! Shopping for real food for your family is not as difficult as you might think. You don’t have to live in a big city. You don’t have to have access to fancy stores like Whole Foods. You can buy and eat real food no matter where you live! I live in a small town in the middle of Nebraska. If I can do it, you can do it. :)

1. Your Local Grocery Store

Yep. While it might seem that your regular local grocery store doesn’t have much to offer, I’m here to tell you that it is still full of real food. Vegetables, fruit, rice, beans, meat, eggs, nuts, oats, and the list goes on. Even the smallest of grocery stores have these basics! They might not be of the highest quality, they might not have a wide variety of options, but these are still real foods and can allow you to eat wholesome meals without falling back on highly processed foods.

Admittedly, smaller grocery stores tend to need to charge more for their food. Sometimes the produce selection is not as good as what you’ll find in a larger store. But you can still eat well enough. And sometimes, a local shop owner is willing and able to order groceries per your request. It never hurts to ask!

Become familiar with your local store(s) so you can learn your favorite sources, find the best prices, and become assured that no matter what your other options, you can still find good food right up the road.

groceries feb 174

2. Azure Standard

This food co-op has been a main food source for our family for years! They are based in Oregon, but ship to hundreds of drop points every month. If you aren’t already a member of Azure Standard, I highly recommend giving it a try if a drop point is available in your area. (If there isn’t one currently, you can look into starting one. That’s what I did many years ago, and now they deliver right to our town!)

azure

Azure Standard carries just about every food item you need, from meat to fresh produce to dairy to frozen food and everything in between. They also have paper goods, diapers – everything a large grocery store has. They allow you to buy individual items or a full case of that item for a discount. I consider Azure Standard to be like a Whole Foods grocery store that is less expensive and delivered directly to me! I love it!

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How Azure Standard works:

  1. Become a member. (It is completely free.)
  2. Join a local drop point (or start one).
  3. Order online each month according to your needs. (There is no obligation to order if you don’t need or want anything. Just shop as needed.)
  4. The drop coordinator for your group will be informed of the truck delivery time each month. He/she will send information to let you know when/where to meet.
  5. Meet at the designated pick-up time and location to help unload the truck and take home your order! This unload and sorting process usually only takes 15 minutes. Easy peasy!

3. Bountiful Baskets

I’ve been able to enjoy this fun real food groceries delivery option for the past two years and while I don’t order every time it is available, I sure do love it on the weeks they offer great cases of produce at great prices! This is what a typical basket can hold:

bountiful basket 815

Check here to see if there is a Bountiful Basket location near you. If there is, you can order as often as every two weeks. They supply you with a wonderful basket full of fresh fruits and vegetables for just $18. They also offer “Add-Ons” if you’d like to purchase cases of fresh produce to your order at a discount. Some locations also offer bread, and sometimes there are special offers like coconut oil or apple cider vinegar.

Bountiful Baskets is a lot of fun and gives us some great options for having plenty of fresh fruits and veggies on hand!

stir fry

Like I always say: When life gives you Bountiful Baskets, make Stir-Fry.

4. Amazon

It’s amazing all the real food you can find at Amazon.

groceries august9

amazon_order

I often buy food by the case, and it is delivered for free right to my porch! I wrote a post here detailing real food I often buy at Amazon. Also, I’ve learned to make the most of Subscribe and Save to save me money on real food groceries from Amazon.

How Amazon Prime Works For My Family

5. Zaycon Fresh

This one is new to me, but definitely worth sharing when it comes to a great source for real food. Zaycon Fresh can save a lot of money and get you stocked up on good meat for your family!

  1. Sign up for a Zaycon account here.
  2. Click on See Locations and select the best option for you.
  3. Order meat as needed, picking up at the designated time and location.

zaycon chicken

What are your favorite sources for real food?

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Get a 54-Ounce Tub of Organic Coconut Oil for Just $12.43! (UPDATE! An Even Better Deal!)

March 19, 2018 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

UPDATE!

Heidi pointed out that gallon-sized buckets of Nutiva Organic Refined Coconut Oil are significantly less per ounce than the already great deal I shared below. So if you go through a lot of coconut oil, definitely take advantage of this price instead:

Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil Gallon: $17.99!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I rarely share food deals here anymore. (I usually save them to share with Savings Club Members!) But when I came across one as amazing as this for Organic Coconut Oil, I decided that I can’t not tell you about it. :)

I just got this big tub of organic coconut oil for just $12.43! How? So easy. I had to question if it was too good to be true. Nope, just true. And good. Now to decide how many to buy…

How to Take Advantage of This Deal

  1. Click here to find the Nutiva Organic Refined Coconut Oil at Amazon.
  2. Click on the green 20% coupon, which will be applied at check-out.
  3. Check-out with a one-time purchase which will give you the price of $15.30 OR…
  4. Check-out with Subscribe-and-Save which will give you an additional 15% off, taking the price down to $12.43!
  5. If you like, cancel your subscription any time after your order arrives.

I get a subscribe-and-save order every month, so adding this to my order with the extra discount was a no-brainer!

A few recipes that call for coconut oil

I have loads of recipes on my site that include coconut oil. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Dark Chocolate Almond Granola
  • Granola ~ 5-Minute Stop-Top Version
  • Lemon Bread
  • Whole Wheat Waffles
  • Dark Chocolate Almond Granola
  • Coconut Flour Muffins
  • Coconut Fudge Bars
  • Chewy Granola Bars
  • Low Sugar Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
  • Low Sugar Carrot Cake
  • Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake
  • No Bake Cookie Cups 
  • Fat Bombs
  • Honey Sweetened No-Bake Cookies

I also love using refined coconut oil for frying:

  • Simple Tuna Patties
  • Simple Veggie Fritters
  • Sweet Potato Fries
  • Make-Ahead French Fries

No guarantee on how long this price on coconut oil and the 20% off coupon will be available. Grab it here while you can.

What are your favorite ways to use coconut oil?

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save Time Chopping Onions

March 18, 2018 by Laura 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This Real Food Cheat Trick is going to sound fairly lame. I admit it. But this tip saves me oodles of time without costing much, if any, extra money! This is how I save time chopping onions!

minced onion trick

How’s this for a tip? Want to save time chopping onions? Don’t chop them. Hold your applause. Please stay tuned for more brilliant tips like this one.

Now that I’ve fully prepared you to be unimpressed, I will admit that it’s likely that many of you will thoroughly dislike my trick. Why? Because most certainly the smell of freshly chopped onions and minced garlic sauteing in a pan with olive oil or butter is incredible!

You are right and I agree. But I still like my trick and I love the time this saves.

My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save TimeHow I Save Time Chopping Onions

I always keep a huge supply of Dried Minced Onion on hand. I almost never go to the trouble of chopping an onion. I simply grab my jar of dried minced onion, dump in the desired amount, and stir it into the meat I’m cooking. It still smells amazing. It flavors the food marvelously. And I save myself the trouble of chopping an onion, crying a river, and cleaning up the mess afterward.

I suppose it goes without saying that this method also keeps me from having to work at getting the onion smell off my fingers. (Yes, I know. Rub your fingers on stainless steel. I do. It works. But still.)

Also, for people who don’t love chunks of onion in their food, but do love the flavor onions give, using Dried Minced Onion is a great solution!

Save Time Chopping Onions

I might as well make a garlic confession while I’m here.

I frequently cheat with that too. True story: I almost never buy fresh garlic, a fact of which has many of you throwing tomatoes.

Fresh garlic is tough to beat, no doubt. But time saved in the kitchen trumps all, in my book. So I either keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge or I grab my jar of dried garlic powder from my spice cabinet. My food still tastes delicious, but I’ve saved myself some work by using these convenience items.

So there you have it. Now you know. I often cheat and use already-prepared onions and garlic. You can’t talk me out of it. (Though I suppose you can try.)

But doesn’t this cost more?

Minced Onion appears to be more expensive per pound compared to cost per pound of fresh onions. However, Dried Minced Onions have been dehydrated, shrinking them down and changing their weight. You’ll get a lot of dried minced onion per pound compared to fresh onions. One small fresh onion equals 1 Tablespoon Dried Minced Onion.

onion3

Where to purchase Dried Minced Onion

Most grocery stores carry these. They can be found in the aisle with the spices. However, I typically purchase it in bulk either from Azure Standard or Amazon.

Huge Bulk Amount of Dried Minced Onion

Dried Minced Onion options at Azure Standard

Now it’s your turn to tell me if you feel it is worth taking the extra time to chop onions and garlic. If you’re often feeling tight on time in the kitchen, I recommend giving this a try, especially on busy days!

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Unique and Easy Way to Transport Hot Food For Lunches

March 15, 2018 by Laura 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Apparently necessity is the mother of invention. Though I’d prefer to think that I’m the mother that came up with this great way to transport hot food for lunches.

Easy way to transport hot food for lunch

You will certainly love this “transporting of hot food” idea, but first I must tell you why we needed to transport the hot food in the first place.

I don’t think I ever told you about my husband’s latest entrepreneurial endeavor. (Please never make me say the word “entrepreneurial” out loud. I can barely type it, much less pronounce it. There are too many “r’s” in weird places and it is just too much for my mouth to handle.)

So about Matt’s latest entrepre– business venture. Several months ago he studied and apprenticed and studied some more, then he took two extremely difficult tests in order to become a licensed radon mitigator. What does a licensed radon mitigator do, you ask? Well, they mitigate radon, of course.

And by that I mean that he does a lot of hard work for many hours per project in order to safely and legally remove radon gas from homes. It is extremely hard work. There are pipes, holes, and fans involved, and that, my friends, is about all I know. Matt though? Well, he can do all the chemical equations and precise measuring and hole drilling and pipe placing and um…other stuff with brilliant accuracy. I am very proud and impressed with all he knows and does.

All this husband-bragging to tell you about my genius idea for sending a hot lunch to a work site with him. Oh please. If Matt can be a genius who mitigates radon gas out of homes in order to prevent people from getting lung cancer, surely my “here’s your hot lunch, Babe” idea is also genius. Nod and smile. Nod and smile.

portable food11

It all started on a cold day I was sending Matt off to another city for his latest radon mitigation job. Packed lunches are a must for these jobs so that he can grab a few bites and keep on working to get as many hours of work in as possible in a day. But sandwiches? Well, he is a bit tired of those at this point.

So I decided to try putting hot leftovers into the awesome “fake Yeti” Matt and the boys got me for Christmas. (By the way, actual Yetis are awesome but can be expensive! Matt found me this knock off for only $13, and it came with a stainless steel straw. I love it!)

I’ve been very impressed with how my insulated cup keeps hot drinks hot for HOURS! So I thought, surely it would keep hot food hot for hours too. I decided to give it a try, with a ready apology in advance to Matt if my brilliant idea provided him with barely tepid chicken and rice for lunch that day.

I’m happy to share that Matt’s lunch was piping hot that day, even after he let the cup sit in his cold truck all morning. (And by cold, I mean it was 15 degrees that day.)

Oh, and do you see the fork sticking up through the drinking slot in the lid? Brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I inserted the fork and let the end stick up through the mouth piece so he didn’t risk losing track of it. Also? The smaller insulated cup is one Justus had received as a gift. I filled it with steamed veggies to send along with the bigger mug filled with chicken and rice. Matt ate like a king that day. I was so glad to provide him with a great meal to help sustain him in his hard work day.

portable food22

Radon? You don’t stand a chance when my husband comes to take you on. Hot lunch for the hard working radon mitigator? No problem at all.

Quick Links for insulated cups to transport hot food (and drinks)

  • 30-ounce Double Wall Stainless Steel Mug with lid and straw
  • 20-ounce Double Wall Stainless Steel Mug with lid

These links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

March 13, 2018 by Laura 25 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

My friend Emily has been encouraging me to try this little “bake your rice in the oven” trick for quite some time. As it turns out, this really is the easiest way to make brown rice!

rice55

Now, I’ve been making rice on the stove-top for years without any problem. Then I got an Instant Pot and tried making rice in that.

Confession: While it is actually very easy to make rice in the Instant Pot, I kept having to look up how to do it because I could never remember from one time to the next. So ultimately, this didn’t make my life easier. Ha! Old habits die hard. I didn’t want to have to actually think about how to make rice. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

So I went back to my “cook rice on the stove-top” method.

Then Emily said something again about making rice in the oven, about how easy it was, and about how the rice turns out perfectly every single time. Fine. I decided to try it. After all, the method did sound very simple.

Boom. I’m going to use the oven method every time from now on. It’s a no brainer! And it actually is easier than making rice on the stove-top because I don’t have to boil water first, then add rice, then turn down the heat, yada, yada.

Here are the basics you need to know to make brown rice in the oven:

  1. Always use 2 parts water to 1 part rice.
  2. Cover the dish.
  3. Bake for 1 hour at 350.

Here’s a basic picture tutorial. Watch and be amazed.

1. Put rice in a dish.

rice11

2. Add water. Cover, and bake for 1 hour at 350.

rice22

3. The rice is done. It is perfect. Your life just got easier.

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4. Be amazed and look at the rice from a different angle. Stare joyfully at the rice.

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5. Move on. It’s time to eat the rice.

rice55

The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

5.0 from 1 reviews
The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 2 cups water
  • sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Place one part rice to two parts water into a baking dish.
  2. Sprinkle in sea salt according to your taste. (You can add salt later if you prefer.)
  3. Stir.
  4. Cover.
  5. Bake in a 350 oven for one hour.
3.4.3177

The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

This will forever more be my go-to rice making method. I love how simple it is! And the rice truly turns out perfect!

What’s your favorite way to make brown rice? Have you ever tried this oven method? I think you’ll love it!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

March 11, 2018 by Laura 17 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It’s great fun to make buttermilk! Wait until you see how easy it is!

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See, this is one of those things you can tell people that will thoroughly impress them, “Oh yes. I make buttermilk. No big deal.” The people will be shocked and amazed, but then you’ll have to admit, “Ok, fine. My two year old actually made the buttermilk. It really is that easy. Still please be impressed.”

Why would you want to make buttermilk?

Well, many recipes call for buttermilk, but as for me, I mostly keep it on hand so I can make this Simple Ranch Dressing. We go through gallons of this dressing as it is our family’s favorite. Seeing as we try to eat salad every day, we must have the ranch dressing in the fridge at all times. Buttermilk is a key, delicious ingredient in this dressing. And since buttermilk is a cultured dairy product, this makes our salad dressing even more nutritious!

The main reason I make buttermilk instead of buying it is because I want to use my farm fresh, raw milk. Raw milk contains nutrients and digestive enzymes that help us break down and absorb those nutrients. So this in and of itself is a win! Then when you add culture to this raw milk, it creates probiotic bacteria that is even more fabulous for our gut health!

So homemade raw cultured buttermilk? This is absolutely filled with great nourishment and digestive benefits!

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I guess it goes without saying, then, that when I use this Homemade Buttermilk in our Homemade Ranch Dressing, then we pour this wonderful dressing all over our mixed greens, we’ve got ourselves an incredibly nourishing side dish (or main dish, if we add more substance to our salad!).

salad_makings_2

I used to buy packaged culture to start a batch of buttermilk. (Here’s an idea of what that looks like.) That’s a more pure way to start a batch, so yay for that! But it’s quite a bit more expensive. Plus it takes a couple extra steps.

So at this point in my blessed, full-scheduled life, I have chosen the easier route. (Simple specifics below.)

The Best News about Making Buttermilk

Once you have made one batch, you can save the last cup to start a new batch. Then you can continue making batches of buttermilk from your previous batch, over and over again. Isn’t that cool?

The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

5.0 from 1 reviews
The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: ½ gallon
Ingredients
  • Just under ½ gallon of milk
  • 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Add buttermilk to regular milk.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Allow milk/buttermilk mixture to sit on the kitchen countertop for 12-36 hours or until the milk has become cultured.
  4. You will be able to see that the new batch has turned into buttermilk by tilting the jar. If the contents of the jar have thickened and "plop" over when you tilt the jar, your buttermilk has formed! If the mixture is still runny like milk, continue to let the jar sit on the countertop.
  5. Once the buttermilk has formed, transfer the jar to the fridge, using as needed.
  6. Save one cup of buttermilk to use in subsequent batches, following the directions above for additional jars of buttermilk.
3.4.3177

The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

Do not be afraid to leave this at room temperature for several hours! This is how the milk naturally ferments and cultures. Not only is this practice safe, I am quite confident that the probiotic bacteria formed during this process makes for an even safer-to-consume dairy product!

Can you make buttermilk with store-bought, pasteurized milk?

Yes. While I’ve not tried this, research tells me that this method works with pasteurized milk also. Though apparently, using ultra-pasteurized milk will produce inconsistent results. If you’ve had experience with making buttermilk with store-bought milk, I’d love to hear how it has worked for you!

Recipes that use Buttermilk

Here are the recipes I’ve shared here that call for buttermilk:

  • Ranch Salad Dressing
  • Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
  • Pumpkin Donuts
  • Giant Breakfast Cookies
  • Low Sugar Banana Cake
  • Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cake
  • Homemade Grapenuts Cereal
  • Breakfast Cake Muffins
  • Red(less) Velvet Cake

Seems our family enjoys cake made with buttermilk. I mean salad dressing. We eat lots and lots of salad, with dressing that I make with buttermilk. And also cake.

Do you make buttermilk? What do you use buttermilk for at your house?

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The Easiest Way to Organize Your Recipes

March 8, 2018 by Laura 15 Comments

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Today I want to hear the ways each of you has found to organize your recipes!

Favorite Recipes12

As you all know, I am a recipe nut. A full fledged recipe guru. Recipes are my thing. I love them. I collect them. I invent them. I dream about them. And often these recipes include butter. This cannot be helped.

But recently I was asked, “Laura, what’s the easiest way you’ve found to organize your recipes?” My response, “Oh, I don’t organize them. I just create them.”

You guys do not want to see my recipe cabinet. 

Yes, it’s true. I have an entire, very unorganized cabinet full of recipes. (And also a cabinet full of Pyrex. These are needed so I can bake the recipes piled up in my cabinet. And also so that I can enjoy the butter.)

butter

#iheartbutter
#andpyrex

So my recipe cabinet. It is about as messy as can be. When I need to use one of the recipes in this cabinet, I have to dig and scrounge and muddle. But never fear. While looking through my mess to find the one recipe I need, I end up finding three more I forgot were there. And you guessed it. Many of them require the use of chocolate. (Bet you thought I was going to say “Pyrex” or “butter.” Ha. Just keeping you on your toes.)

So today, my friends, we’re going to talk about the easiest way to organize recipes. It’s high time I found a system. My messy cabinet pile is no longer working. It never worked. So let’s talk about how to organize your recipes!

I’m sure you’re eager to learn about this subject from someone who clearly has no clue. Come closer, my friends. I’ll teach you everything I don’t know.

Tips for the easiest way to organize your recipes

As I’ve searched for a system, these are the new tricks that are working best for me at this point.

  • Keep all your recipes in one place. (At least having all my recipes in one cabinet was better than tucking them randomly inside school books, the silverware drawer, and behind the toaster oven.)
  • If the recipes are cut from magazines, torn from a book, or printed off the computer, slide them all safely inside a large manila folder or envelope.
  • Invest in a binder. This is my best idea so far.

I came across this DIY Recipe Binder idea online and I don’t know why I never thought of it before! It’s way too simple, and turns my messy cabinet into a nicely organized recipe haven.

binder

DIY Recipe Binder – FREE Printables!!

DIY Recipe Binder - Free Printables

I spent a little time creating these lovely binder pages to help me become more organized. I like them so much I decided to share them with you! Not only can all of our recipes be in one place, we can put them all into one organized (and fun!) binder.

How to make and use your Recipe Binder

  1. Enter your email address here and the free printables will be sent to your inbox. (This will connect you to our Heavenly Homemakers email list so I can continue to send you freebies, recipes, and deals!)
  2. Print each of the Recipe Binder pages you will use.
  3. Use a 3-hole punch to prepare them for a 3-ring binder.
  4. As you print recipes from the computer, add them to your binder within the fitting category.
  5. If you have small recipe cards, recipes cut from magazines, etc, re-write them on 8.5×11 inch paper so that they fit your binder. Or slide them into a plastic sleeve that fits in a 3-ring binder.

And that, my friends, is how we’re going to get our recipes organized once and for all!

Or at least that’s the hope. The fact that my new Recipe Binder is cute and fun offers me lots of incentive. :)

Get your FREE DIY Recipe Binder pages here.

 

What ways have you found to organize your recipes?

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